I'm Baaaccckkk :-)

I'm Back
Not just on this blog. But back to life. It had been a tough decade. Financially, relationship-wise, health wise. But now I feel stronger. In a good place. Nothing like starting over in mid-life. WE virtually lost everything financially.  But it beats the alternative. 
What I am most excited for was the program I discovered, that got me healthy. Financially and Physically. Also mentally. The 3 connect, they are a cycle and work off of each other.
It was through this program, I finally found what it was I wanted to be when I grow up. I love helping people, I love to share my journey and that's exactly what I can do. 
I first made my husband be my lab rat, or guinea pig. He was the first person I health coached. On this journey we lost over 100 pounds combined.

Our progression.

It feels good, not only how we look, but less joint pain. Walt no longer needs his high cholesterol medication, is no longer pre-diabetic and has cut down his high blood pressure medicine by 3/4 of what it was. Hopefully, we can take him off completely, but some things are just genetic too.

For me, my sleep also has been amazing!

With the financial piece I have been replacing my income in a high stress environment, to where I am about to retire in that field and do health coaching 100% of the time instead. It has been so fulfilling and anyone, yes even you, reader, can do it too. I can train you. We have a whole team who will train you. And it is very little start up cost. I didn't have the money, read the first paragraph again. 

When I first started on this program, I was NOT going to coach, I was Not going to be involved in something to "sell" make money. I was just going to lose my weight. Never say never. There are many clients that I have that do just that, for whatever their reasons. Some are already doing what they love and that is awesome! For me this is what I am doing now and for always, it helps me to 

Breathe Chic.

If you are interested more, go to my health page in this Blog.

As always,

Breathe Chic

The Changes of Holidays or When Can I Put Up My Christmas Decorations…

Today, the day after Halloween, should be a respite before any other decorating to commence. Yesterday, I was in the grocery store to pick up some Halloween candy. I know last minute, but if I get it any earlier it disappears from the house. My husband blames it on goblins or house elves. I do agree with him, if he is referring to the 6’3” goblin that looks to be his twin, digging through the candy bags. Unfortunately for him I have a very good nose and can smell it on his breath 10 feet away. But I digressed, so there I was in the grocery store, looking for the bags of candy. It no longer was in the front of the store, it was relegated to the back and on clearance. In the front of the store were Christmas decorations. My favorite time of the year for decorating is Christmas. However, what happened to the decorations for Thanksgiving. Alright, so Thanksgiving decorations are somewhat limiting, however you can do some pretty beautiful fall color settings. And you can use the pumpkins and corn from Halloween to carry through. This year I am already decorated for Thanksgiving, mostly because we only used the fall decorations for Halloween, instead of decking out the house with Halloween. My husband’s favorite decorating time of the year is Halloween. It is an over the top, skeletons, graveyards and spiders type of decorating. The little boy who wants to scare everyone comes out in him for this time of year. This year however, our home is on the market and should anyone happen to want to see it, I didn’t think a cemetery in our family area would have added to the sales value. Now we come back to the question of when I can put up Christmas, traditionally, I feel the weekend after Thanksgiving is a good time. But you also can score some pretty good Christmas sales that weekend too. The dilemma of being a girl that loves to decorate and shop. I also have thrown into the mix a holiday party for our company. We do the party prior to Thanksgiving and give a turkey. It also frees up the month of December when it seems we compete with other parties and open houses. I would love to be decorated for that, although, we host Thanksgiving Dinner for our family this year. Sometimes, especially when trying to make decorating decisions I feel like I have a split personality or the little devil and angel sitting on my shoulders….what to do, what to do….I am now no closer to deciding what I should do than where I was at the beginning of this article. I suppose in the meantime I can peruse the catalogs from Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Frontgate, Crate & Barrel & Pier One for some fresh new looks for Christmas, until I make a decision as to when to decorate. I added a new page to my blog in regard to skin care. I want to see if an ordinary person who does this at home can achieve the same results if they were seeing a professional regularly. I have also updated recipes, fashion and beauty as well. I hope you enjoy and would love your feedback!

As always Breathe Chic

Vacations that are worthy of needing a vacation when over!

I had a very enjoyable vacation with friends, including my husband and I, there were 3 couples. We shared a 3 bedroom condo at Disneyworld. Walt Disney World was celebrating with the International Food and Wine Fest. We ate our way through 29 countries and it was fantastic. I want to make note you will not see an update on our loss log. The reason for no update is this: when coming back from any vacation do not get on the scale to see a disappointment. It will be disappointing. First of all there will be a water weight gain, especially if there was flying involved. On vacation, people as a rule tend to get more dehydrated. We simply forget to drink the water we need. Secondly, when eating out more than you are used to, combined with not being able to control what goes into each dish (and we had many) especially with salts, which also helps the body in retaining water and thus, converts to more weight gain.  And finally, typically you go off your routine, not only in eating but also in exercising. So I believe, the moment you get back home, get back into your normal routine which includes water intake. Wait a week, then weigh yourself, you still may be up a bit, but at least you won’t have that heart attack sensation, I normally get when stepping on the scale the moment I put my suitcases down. Vacations are a great way to connect with friends. You are out of your every day routine life. You experience new things together and gain insight from other views. It was a wonderful experience. Vacations are also a great way to meet new people. You never know the person you are standing in line with could live only 2 hours away and you obviously have some similarities if you are waiting in line to experience whatever attraction it may be. In my case, I met a new friend who was traveling from Germany in a line to get Korean food.  We sat and shared a meal together exchanged emails and had a wonderful conversation. I know it enriched my life and I am sure this is just a start of a good friendship.  Next time, however, I will need to schedule a few days off before going back to work and rest from such a fun filled (read tiring) vacation.  I have updated Beauty, Recipes and Fashion pages, so take a look and let me know what you think. In the fashion page I have included the Wrap Dress. This has been (or should be) a staple in every woman’s closet since Princess Diane von Furstenberg first introduced it in 1973. Yes, she truly was a Princess, but since her divorce can no longer use that title. She obviously knows how to dress a woman. The wrap dress looks sensational on EVERY body type. I show 2 on the Fashion page.  I own 3 different ones myself that I wear quite a bit.

I am happy the change of seasons has come upon us and now I can change my wardrobe accordingly.

As always,

Breathe Chic

Life Unplugged

It started the Friday before Labor Day weekend. My computer had gotten a bad case of the (first cue scary intro music) Blue Screen of Death. Which believe it or not is the true technical term; the pros call it BSOD for short.  I intermittently have had this problem, however, on that Friday I received this screen 5 or 6 times prior to noon.  When you receive the blue screen of death there is nothing you can do but to turn off your computer wait a bit and turn it back on.  Anything you were working on at that moment is gone…..(unless you are one of the smart people who back or save your information every few minutes, I for one, am not) Fortunately for me, my future son-in-law works with computers for a living.  This is unfortunate for him as soon he will be related to me and computers have an aversion to me. So he offered to take my computer for the weekend and run diagnostics on it and fix it if he was able.  I reluctantly turned it over to him. My reluctance had nothing to do with his ability. My reluctance had everything to do with my security, my computer.  I was trying to remember the last time I was computer less.  I think it was before I bought my first laptop. Which I am guessing was about 15 years ago.  It goes with me on vacation. It had become an appendage to my body, much like my phone is.  Luckily I still had my phone; otherwise I would have probably needed to join a 10 step program. Because today my cell phone is more than a phone, it is a smart phone.  It has internet, it has my email, and it has games. Okay the games aren’t truly necessary, but it kills time. AHA! Time killing! Distractions! I discovered that was what my computer was doing quite a bit. True, in today’s environment to run a business you have to have a computer to be competitive. However, with all the social networking, blogs, games, shopping, research and who knows what else, it gets exhausting.  So the little bit of rest I was getting, the reconnecting with my husband and friends were great.  We went to visit some friends on the Sunday/Monday and went to the small Colorado town of Gateway. Gateway has a fabulous resort, restaurant, car museum and NO CELL SITE. I have lost all forms of technological communication. I was in MAJOR WITHDRAWAL. But you know what, I survived. I did better than survive, with having my life "unplugged" I had my inner batteries recharged. I felt fantastic on the Tuesday after the long weekend, so much so that on my next week long vacation I am leaving the computer home….I will however still have my Smartphone though. We all must take baby steps.  I added to the loss log, fashion, beauty and recipe pages as well, let me know what you think.

As always,

Breathe Chic

I LOVE FALL

I LOVE FALL

I know it’s not quite fall yet, but I received my September issue of Vogue, the Fashion Bible as I like to call it.  It puts me into the mood for fall; I can hardly wait to wear my fall clothes. Although, here in Colorado it is still quite warm for the heavy layers of cotton, wool and tweed associated with fall.  But I can start organizing my fall wardrobe, and there is not a need to update everything, items that were in last year are still going strong this year, menswear, equestrian look (think Ralph Lauren)and reptile. It is going to be a fun fall.  The other mood enhancer for fall is education. Whether it’s your children going back to school and giving you some much needed break time or at least a little bit before all the fall sports kick into overdrive.  One thing to remember is to take care of you.  And part of it is to feed your brain. Enroll in a college course or two, something that interests you and not necessarily to enhance your job.  There have been endless studies that support if you continually work your mind you postpone dementia or even Alzheimer’s.  I am enrolling in a couple of 1 day workshops for fun and a 7 week course to learn another aspect of my business.  After my father retired, he took up some volunteer jobs, he also worked part time.  When I asked him why he doesn’t take it easy, he replied: “Daughter, I can either keep on working or just wait to die.”  He was of sound mind until the day he died. Everything we do, or do not do will affect the way we are able to live as we age.  When thinking of our health we tend to ignore our brain. Our brain is who we are; we need to take care of it as good, if not better than the rest of our body.  I have added to the loss log, added is the key term; both Walt and my weight are up.  I could blame it on the salty dinner we had the night before we weighed, but that’s just an excuse.  The fact of the matter is that we got a little lazy and a bit busy and we were eating out more than we should. So time to ignore my lazy bone and just get back into the kitchen and make a conscious effort of what goes into my body. I have also added to the fashion, recipe and beauty page. I hope you enjoy or learn something new.

As always, Breathe Chic

Case of the Blah's

Typically, I lead a crazy, hectic life.  For example, I hosted 26 High School Students at my home.  They are part of the Rocky Mountain District Key Club, their board to be specific.  They are a wonderful group of high school students whom I love working with.  They ate and slept at my home.  They bring their sleeping bags and most camp out on the floor.  The Governor gets the guest bedroom….perks of being “King”.  Usually every weekend I have something going, so when I come to a weekend like this past one and I didn’t have anything crammed packed into it, I felt off. I felt like I was missing out…..on something….anything.  Although the whole weekend wasn’t all relaxing I do have to help an adult child move on Sunday/Monday. I did get to enjoy my husband and my home and watch the hummingbirds for once.  It was a real treat, but it felt wrong and I feel that is wrong to feel wrong.  I have to learn to relax and smell the flowers; I suppose. However, I guess I just wasn’t wired to relax.  So next weekend I will have about a dozen High School students from our local Key Club Board stay the weekend and plan their year.  I love being involved with youth.

Speaking of moving a child, that leads my brain to decorating.  I like to freshen up the look of my home and typically on a whim and usually late in the day when stores are closed.  So to give a different look to an area, say a mantle or a shelf, gather different objects of the same color and display them.  For instance I noticed I had different candles, vases, a wine glass that were all purple and all within a shade or two of each other. I arranged them all on a fireplace mantle. It gave it a nice decorator touch and I spent zero dollars doing this.  The best part is all the compliments I get from people saying how beautiful, clever, ingenious and/or classy it looks.   You can change depending on the seasons or your mood. Just have fun with it and if you don’t care for it you can always change it back.

I added to the recipe and the beauty page and the loss log. I am still at a plateau but I must admit I have been horrible on the water intake, I also started beefing up my exercise routine and my muscles were pretty sore, which means water retention too. We shall see if it starts going down this next week. If not I will continue working at it.

As always,

Breathe Chic

Plateaus, purses and pimples; the bane of my existence

I guess my blog is going to be a whine fest, I would have preferred a wine fest, but since I am at a plateau with my weight I should not be having alcohol.  I know it’s a normal phenomenon to plateau after losing a good deal of weight.  And I have lost about 20 pounds (I only started recording when deciding to do this blog so it isn’t from the “true” beginning of my weight loss.) So now I am doing the up and down of quarter pounds.  I have to admit it ALMOST makes me feel like throwing in the towel, but since I am extremely stubborn I won’t. Instead I am going to intake more water.  Although I try; I do not do a very good job at keeping hydrated and I am going to try to up my exercise. That shouldn’t be hard since it is almost nonexistent. Next on my whine list is purses. I LOVE purses. The problem truly isn’t with the purse itself.  My problem is I have to make sure I have the right purse with my outfit, which means I am changing purses nearly every day. That is my whine.  I sometimes forget to move things over, like my epi-pen.  Hopefully, I will never need it. I am highly allergic to tree nuts and this pen (injection) will allow me enough time to get to a hospital in case I ingest nuts and go into anaphylactic shock.  I even did an impulse buy. The Kangaroo keeper.  I am sure you have seen it on TV.  I saw it at Target. I bought it. I took it home opened it up and it will be going back.  The large size was larger than most of my purses. Granted I do have a few satchels.  I had a phobia of large purses. I believe it started with going to the store with my mother who would carry quite fashionable suitcases err I mean purses. In my memory they were humongous. And EVERYTHING was in there, kind of like Mary Poppin's carpetbag.  I still remember the embarrassment of when My mother would go to pay for groceries, clothing, the hairdresser and literally almost without fail end up emptying out her purse on the cashiers stand to find her wallet…even at seven I was mortified I vowed I would never carry such a large bag that I cannot find things.  Well that worked up until about a year or so ago. A couple of things happened, a) I carry too much stuff for ordinary everyday life, like my Smartphone, my epi pen, my wallet which has to be medium to large size because of all the cards you have to carry and I am not talking credit cards, but all the preferred member cards, the Costco and Sam’s club the Expresso drive thru coffee punch card and the list goes on, sometimes my kindle if I have a doctors appt. or any appointment I know that I will end up having to wait, my lipstick, a pen, oh and let’s not forget the epipen and then ) fashion has evolved to where the purse is the most coveted of  accessories, and they don’t do them small. And finally the last thing to get off my chest is pimples.  I am 46 years old why must I still get this monthly annoyance. Yes that’s right I get 1 sometimes 2 a month and right on my chin. I know I know it could be worse, it’s not but I do not like them. I have tried everything to get rid of it. Nothing works.  I suppose I am doomed I just need to learn to accept it be thankful that all I have ever gotten my entire life is this 1…or sometimes 2 pimples once a month on my chin. Wow, it’s amazing I feel better already! Now as my husband would say I will take a little cheese to go with all that whine!
There is something new in the recipes, fashion and loss log tab.
As always,
Breathe Chic